Seems some of the best Fathers Day posts come from Joe Kelly's run on ACTION COMICS. Here are a few pages from ACTION COMICS #800. They focus on Jonathan Kent and one of those "mentor figures" Clark had during his "walk the Earth like Caine in 'Kung Fu'" phase.

I am a huge fan of Supergirl, always have been, but Kara Zor-El has had a rough time finding her place both in the comics canon, and on screen. Her much maligned 1984 movie is often cited as the reason Hollywood has no faith in superheroines. I think the film, while flawed, is not as bad as it's made out to be, and I quite enjoy it, but that's another story.

Likewise the first 33 issues of her solo series after her reintroduction were uneven at best, and downright horrible at worst thanks to her (editorially mandated?) on again off again grimdark past, and anger management issues stemming there from. Stalkerish boyfriends, the inability to keep any supporting cast members past the very brief stays of each creative team, and oh yeah need I remind you of the time she tried to cure cancer?

I'm so psyched to see (admittedly overlong) trailer for her new CBS series which promises a fun tone, and a great ride.

So let's celebrate with the issue where Sterling Gates came on the book and established a new tone for the character, that made her book a joy to read again, a fact which in my opinion, has remained true to this very day even if Sterling's continuity is gone.

DAREDEVIL #353 is not when Foggy Nelson learned Matt Murdock was Daredevil, but it was the first time they discussed it. This was also the start of Karl Kesel's run on the book, and one of the times Marvel tried a "Daredevil lightens up a bit" post-Miller storyline.

The posting of IDENTITY CRISIS led to a few Epilogue posts, which led to mention of SACRIFICE. Max Lord mind-controls Superman. There is a vicious fight with Wonder Woman. Diana gets her lasso around Superman to free him, and then gets it around Max. Max says "You can't hold me forever, and next time I'll make him kill Batman or Lois or you." When asking how to prevent this, Max says "Kill me." And Diana does just that. But I am requesting the epilogue to this. In WONDER WOMAN #220, Diana goes to Batman to explain everything, and Batman just says "Get out." ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN #643, Superman goes to Batman, Batman says Diana told him everything, they bicker about the Brother Eye satellite and the OMAC drones. Batman finally says "Go home to your wife, Clark."

I've been through a LOT of writers in my time, in the comic book consumer sense of course. Some have been great, some have been pretty awful, some have been workmanlike, and some have transcended the genre.

Neil Gaiman was a terribly tempting choice, as were Alan Moore and Grant Morrison (particularly early in their career), who were genuinely groundbreaking in the US comic format, and Gaiman at least still earns an automatic (if trial) pull on any new title he writes, and Mark Gruenwald deserves honorary mention for producing many excellent stories playing in the Marvel toybox, but there's another who IMHO always produces quality work. If he's writing the "classic" characters he treats them with respect but not reverence, and usually has a new twist on them, and if he's writing his own characters they may seem somewhat familiar, but there's something else going on to surprise us.